Editor's note:Fr. Albert Cutié is an Episcopal priest and former Roman Catholic cleric known as Padre Alberto or "Father Oprah." He is the author of the memoir, "Dilemma: A Priest's Struggle with Faith and Love" and hosted the talk show "Father Albert." He's on Twitter @padrealberto.

By Fr. Albert Cutié, Special to CNN

(CNN) – Recently, at the end of a long day at work, I watched a reality TV show with my wife. I was stunned when the host referred to a Hispanic and American actor as someone who “became a celebrity overnight.” William Levy regularly appears on prime-time programming seen by millions of Hispanics and Latinos in the United States and throughout Latin America, but only now that he’s on “Dancing with the Stars,” he is a star.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Did this host have any idea just how many of us there are in this country? How much programming, marketing and advertising is produced daily for Spanish-language networks in the United States? To say that a Hispanic-American television personality “became a celebrity” because he appeared on an English-language program is to ignore the great impact of Hispanic and Latino population.

According to the 2010 Census, the Hispanic population surpasses 50 million people and it accounts for about 1 out of 6 Americans. That’s a lot of people, and we didn’t just get here. As someone who has spent several years working in media, I’m often surprised how in the United States, this wonderfully pluralistic nation of ours, we often hear people speak of Latinos and Hispanics as if we were all of the same exact culture, race and ethnicity. It bothers me to hear people say, “but you don’t look Hispanic,” as if there is only one appearance in our big umbrella of races and cultures.

I sometimes want to say, “We have been around here a long time, how many of us have you met?” Yet, being polite and not wanting to turn a casual conversation into a politically incorrect racial-social conflict, I usually let it go.

So what will unite us, whether we look like Levy, Jessica Perez, Marco Rubio?

Perhaps the insistence of one of my Twitter friends, Jorge Ros Sr., is totally right: We should begin to call ourselves “Hispanic-Americans.”

This would bring all of us, regardless of race, under one umbrella and it would make it easier for us, as a minority, to be identified in a more unified way.

I even find myself often using the terms Latino and Hispanic interchangeably, sometimes wondering which ethnonym is more “kosher” or generally accepted today. No one seems to have the final word on the best word, so the controversy continues, mostly due to the diversity of ethnicities, races and countries of origin within the Hispanic American community. It is important for people in the mainstream - whatever that is anymore - to know more about us. Ignorance about the Hispanic and Latino population means ignorance about a big part of American life today.

Maybe the issue which underlies all of this is that we live in a totally new and diverse world, one that is so diverse in race, culture, languages and ways of understanding life, that we must allow ourselves to seek better ways of truly understanding and identifying all this diversity.

But first, I believe that as Hispanics or Latinos, whichever you prefer, we must learn from the African-American and Asian-American communities which have largely united under one ethnonym that encompasses all, even with the diversity they possess.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Fr. Albert Cutié.

soundoff(89 Responses)

Jorge

What I need to call myself for the sake of others is really not that high on my list of burning priorities, I do, however, have a list of choice things I'd like to call a few people who have crossed my path.

You're either American or you're not. In Britain, black people don't call themselves African-British. They're British. Same goes for any hispanic, latino, Mexican... etc, etc. African-Americans are just Americans. Hispanic-Americans are just Americans. By continuing to call themselves anything more than American, they continue to keep the gap open, and the racial tension going.

DO CUBANS–PUERTO RICANS MARCH IN ARIZONA WITH THE MEXICANS ?? NO THEY DO NOT...SO WHY DO THE MEDIA SAY LATINOS ?? HISPANICS ??? THE MEDIA IS SAYING ALL HISPANIC GROUPS ARE MARCHING IN ARIZONA WHEN IN FACT IS JUST MEXICANS........IF YOU COMMIT A CRIME ??? THE MEDIA SHOULD SAY A MEXICAN GUY COMMITTED A CRIME-OR--A CUBAN ..WHEN THE MEDIA SAY A HISPANIC GUY KILLED A BLACK KID IN FLORIDA , ALL HISPANICS--ALL LATINOS TOOK CREDIT FOR IT......ZIMMERMAN IS A PERUVIAN HISPANIC---A PERUVIAN LATINO...

Why not just "American?" Every time I travel down south people refer to themselves as Mexicans. What is Mexico doing right to unify its people? There are still racial tension there but they have national pride and put their nation before race or ethnicity.

It is way past time for this country – in particular the Federal goverment – to stop the racial profiling. NO more Latino, African, Hispanic, Asian, Native, etc. Get the government and some so called religious leaders out of the race business. You are either an American or not.

STOP RACIAL PROFILING ??? WE CAN'T STOP RACIAL PROFILING.....ARE YOU SAYING THAT IF POLICE IS LOOKING FOR ARABS TERRORISTS THAT THEY SHOULD LOOK FOR BLACK PEOPLE TO AVOID RACIALLY PROFILING ARABS ??? THAT LAW IS STUPID...THE RACIAL PROFILING LAW IS A BAD LAW THAT SHOULD ENDED–VOID....THE RACIAL PROFILING LAW HELPS THE BAD GUYS.

The sad part of this discourse is that those of us who were born outside of the U.S and lived in our native countries, never looked at others, with some minor exceptions, as a seperate group of people but as argentinos, venezolanos...ect. regardless of the color of their skin or ethnic origin. That is not to say that there is no discrimination. However, I find it facinating how when we move to the U.S. we beging to stereotype and to use words that describe different groups. I have been identified as an italian and jewish by many people. Some have gone as far as to think that I joking when I tell them my name. So my vote: I do not like the term "hispanic american".

I'm sorry, Hispanic-, African-, Asian-.... I AM AN AMERICAN WITHOUT A -, (dash). Yes, we are a diverse society and yes we ALL can get along so let's start acting like American's and stop trying to segregate yourself from the rest of us. You’re not anymore special than I and I am not anymore special than you. GOD created us all equal, so start acting like it and we all can move on to more pressing issues like getting America back to work.

BLACK IS BLACK-–PUERTO RICANS ARE JUST THAT–ASIANS ARE ASIANS -–CUBANS ARE CUBANS......SO WHAT SOME OF YOU ARE SAYING IS THAT IF A GROUP OF CUBANS ARE TERRORISTS THAT THE POLICE SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR ALL HISPANIC GROUPS, WHEN THEY KNOW THAT THE TERRORISTS ARE CUBANS ?? THAT RACIAL PROFILING LAW MUST GO.

I have a problem with all of the hyphenated ethnic groups. Question: Where are these places on the map? African-American, Latino-American, or Asian-American all are made up places and things. To truly unite any race of people accept them in your culture/country, rather it be United States, Italy, or Germany. Call them the same as anyone else with a citizenship. Even with the hyphen in the middle, you are still from somewhere else and then included in that country. There is way too much division between people today and the hyphenated terms do not help unite anyone, but instead classify.

I notice you list Asian-Americans and African-Americans as examples to emulate. Why not encourage Hispanics/Latinos to be called browns, like whites? After all, whites have been encouraged for decades to forget about their backgrounds – whether they be Italian, Swedish, Australian, etc. This is why they referred to George Zimmerman as a white Hispanic. The media and the public don't care about the person's white roots. Is that disrespectful or has it unified whites to not care whether that white person has Italian or Russian roots?

BTW, just b/c someone is Hispanic-American doesn't mean they side with illegal immigration, speak Spanish and keep track of who's a celebrity south of the border.

The thing that will always keep "them" separate is this nonsense of Spanish language. I've talked with a grade school teacher who was from the Ukraine. Her husband was American. She could not believe the waste and stupidity caused by teaching Spanish to Spanish speaking students. They speak it in school, at home, at work. Their language is their pride. It shows something, what I don't know. Failure to learn English only puts them behind more than ever. The most common language spoken in the world today is English. Why. Its the international language in business. Airport controllers the world over conduct their business in English. The teacher from the Ukraine was glad to leave this area when her husband transferred to Ohio.

The most spoken language in the world probably would be Chinese (including all its dialects). Spoken in just one large country (China, including Hong Kong and Macau), and probably less than half a dozen other, very tiny, countries (Taiwan, Singapore and, probably to a lesser extent, Indonesia and Malaysia).

No-one should give a rat's butt about nationality or ethnicity. Loving your country, what is that even supposed to mean, if you hate everything it supposedly stands for? BTW, when white people didn't have anyone of different distinct ethnicity to discriminate against, they discriminated against "not so pure europeans", e.g. true americans vs irish and next vs europeans, and then against "farm boys" and "red necks" and the list just goes and goes like Star Wars' credits LOL

Very true. My grandparents came during a time when "no Irish need apply". My brother and I both told my parents when we were in elementary school "we're not Irish, we're Americans". The same was true of our Italian neighbors whose parents "came from the other side". We all, that is, my generation, fought to be considered American. I really don't understand why 2nd and 3rd generation HIspanic.Latino whatever insist on being considered special, no more than "African Americans " whose ancestors came here hundreds of years ago,and have often as many European ancestors as African ancestors. What we have in common is more important than what separates us

How ignorant this nation is. We laugh when the media puts TV ads portraying only and only white Anglos and African American models when is a known fact that Mediterranean peoples-those you call Latins-are more numerous and by far more productive, and we own thousand of business and by far with a greater purchasing power. Maybe because we are proud of who we are and where we come from that we have our own TV stations, magazines and newspapers.

I should have made my point, that is we, the other races, do not uphold a race based on Language-Latino-isn't about race–it is about Language. It is not a flattering referral. You do not seem to get it.

Nobody cares what the F__ you are...do you care what mix WHite people are? French, English, German, Irish, American Indian, Greek, African....Russian....all very different languages....Nigerians have 33 different languages in their country so they adopted English because it was so easy..... No, you are just so self absorbed that you are a Spanish Speaking person of either American Indian descent or latin Indian Or Mexican Indian. As a matter of pride why not go to your roots? And say what you are? Not only that why not Unify with the rest of Americans who all came here speaking other languages??? WE ALL DID. We're Americans. Latinos are from South of the Border. But we respect you more when you say what your heritage is. Aztec, Mexican, Mayan, Indigenous, Mexican, COlumbian, etc. WHo cares if you speak Spanish??? If your Nigerian and you live in ENgland, I expect you will have an English accent. If you'er Russian raised in England I expect you to speak English, If you are Arab living in PAnama all your life I expect you to speak Spanish. WHo cares? But in America we speak En glish–American English anyway, because we don't understand that British English....so learn to speak it and your troubles will melt away.

umm my wife is from brazil. from what she told me they do not consider themselves latinos(she sure as hell dont condider herself one). some even get offended if you call them that. and thats coming from a natural born brazillian.

Let's face it that many from Mexico, Central America and South America are just as racist as any other group of people. Many Mexicans it's about skin color and not where people came from. Mestizos and indigenous people are the discriminated against Latinos deserving of protection. Mexicans of European decent who look white are not Latino. I went to school with a guy from Mexico, his parents and grandparents were born there, but he had blonde hair and looked white. The Mexican student groups said he could not participate and was turned down for scholarships that would be available to any other Mexican immigrant kids growing up in the States because he wasn't a dark skinned Mexican with indigenous blood.

Total truth. I am a white complected Hispanic and I know when they announce "Latino party" on the radio, that they are referring to Latinos that are "darker complected." I have often been told that I lie because I have white looking relatives down in Mexico! It's frustrating.

When I arrived from Paraguay 32 years ago, I resented being labeled or that "hispanic" was considered a race. What happened to South Americans of German or Italian descent? How about my great-grandparents who probably refused to speak Castillan in their native Barcelona? Are Spaniards “hispanos”? and if my primary language at home is Guarani, spoken by the majority of Paraguayan, am I considered Hispanic? What happened is I was born in the U.S. and do not speak Spanish but my last name is Lopez, am I more hispanic than someone with the lastname of Levy, was born in Buenos Aires and is Jewish? – In other words, I wish Hispanics spoke better English and assimilated more in the United States without losing their roots.

Speak whatever language you want in your home(s) to keep "your roots" but do not expect that the U.S. needs to cater to you in order for you to communicate. Learn the English language, become a legal taxpaying citizen just like the rest of us. Call yourself anything you want once these criteria are met. I could care less.

The U.S. has no real policy or intention of ever defining our country – it's currently allowed for an illegal to obtain a driver's license in many states. It makes no sense. Illegals enter our country, maybe work with paying taxes during crop harvest season and all the while abuse my tax dollars by expecting to be eligible for welfare benefits, public housing, schools, etc.

When are the bureaucratic label-makers going to figure out that defining a huge group of people on the basis of historic linguistic affiliation is just useless? I vote for "American". Or maybe just "human".

This is the problem today in our country it should not be about divisional labels wether it be hispanic african asian but just simply AMERICAN! thats it, yes be proud of your heritage and parents culture and language but once your born in this country this is your country not mexico argentina cuba or anywhere else where they might of come from and if you feel it is more important to claim that country as your own well there's the door dont let it hit you on the way out is all have to say

Multinational, multilingual, multicultural countries are not an impossibility. In fact, many, from Switzerland to India to Singapore to Canada, are doing rather well, if not thriving...

(Even the United Kingdom, for example, could be considered a multilingual, multicultural and possibly a multinational country. English, though generally understood throughout, is not the native language in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. And a Scot would be culturally as different than an Englishman as a Swede to a Frenchman. Also, recently, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland did receive their devolved legislatures or "Parliaments".

You are missing the point, you chose the wrong thread to post your hatred. This is about labeling legal american citizens (as much as I disagree with even labelling people on their passport), not about Mexican illegal immigrants. It's not the same. I can not lump together all the problems, it's called over-simplification and denotes a huge lack of awareness ....

How about just American? Not just for Latinos, but for all of us. I am sick of hearing people say things like, "I'm Italian." No, you're not Italian. You are American. You were born here, raised here, and have never even been to Italy dummy.

If you do not want to be called an american than i suggest you go home with the rest of the illegals that are sucking our schools ,social programs,jobs dry.Go wave your mexican flags back in mexio where it would mean something.I find it very offencive to see mexicans driving around with the mexican flag flastered on their car,or hanging from their homes.If you want to act like a foreign national the go home and do it but not here in america.Do us a favor and quit using our recources and then sending your money back to mexico.Better yet Deport every last illegall now and their families,maybe the american workers wages will rise again.

Again, with the labels.....Father Cutie: I am of HIspanic and Italian descent but as a person proudly living in the United States of America, I am an AMERICAN!!!
I am tired of people like you insisting on using hyphenated labels to describe Americans. Regardless of where we come from, we are Americans living in the USA. By calling ourselves AMERICANS does NOT take away where we came from..People like you keep dividing our great country......so PLEASE for God's sake, STOP IT!!!
Eddie

It is the goverment that has invented a "new race" , we DO NOT want to be lumped together, we chose to be Americans, and we should not be forced to be part of a group that beside the language we do not have nothing else in common.
I refused to have a designated "race"what next , a sign on our clothes?

Quotes from one of America's greatest presidents:
“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism…. The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.”
“We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.”
"There are good men and bad men of all nationalities, creeds and colors; and if this world of ours is ever to become what we hope some day it may become, it must be by the general recognition that the man's heart and soul, the man's worth and actions, determine his standing."
“Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.”
Theodore Roosevelt

Listen, Latinos, Hispanics, or what ever designation you want to use are NOT denying that they are proud Americans. However, to white wash all of us (no pun intended) as simply being only American is removing the culture and diversity of what makes up the fabric of America. I know that Latino/Hispanics, etc. do not have a race designation, but we all didn't decide on that, it was decided for us. My birth certificate says I'm White, but I was not accepted as someone who was White. For me being Latino, even a 3rd generation American, I am still proud of my culture and heritage, just as I am proud to be an American. To reduce Latinos to only a culture, takes a lot away.

Now this is where I get confused in a mixed race couple, how do we track the race of the child or children? How far back in the family tree do we look? What if a white man marries an Asian woman and they have a daughter and she marries a Jamaican. They have a son that marries someone from Spain in turn have a son that marries someone from Mexico. They have a daughter that marries a man whose father is African- American and mother is an Arab. So what is the race of the last child born or for that matter any of the children. Yes having a diverse Culture is a wonderful thing but for all of you trying to put people in little boxes in the name of equality you just might be more of a bigot than you know.

I guess you just said it. This term misuse is based on the huge lack of knowledge of some individuals. that is not the race or ethnicity that makes the human being superior, if not your knowledge and willingness to deal with people every day

I agree with JusDav. How about unite and BE an American PERIOD? Another point, too, is 5 out of 6 people, which IS a majority, don't watch Spanish TV shows here in America. I don't watch TV shows with commercials, so I have never watched DWTS. Whatever program you watch is your business, but at the end of the day, AMERICANS all bleed red.

Actually, all people bleed red. In a globalized 2012, it's about time to go even beyond borders and stop the non-sense of nationalism. Please read Albert einstein's "The world as I see it" (1934) or any other anti-nationalist litterature, for that matter. At least read Wikipedia's definition of anti-nationalism, if you can. One world, one big human race ! I can't believe that at a time we should be expanding and emcompassing more and more people into ONE big human-kind, we still allow being divided, over a bunch of dogmatic – not to mention imaginary – brainwashes, i.e. nationalism, race, etc.

.... and yes, a whole bunch often throw me in the "latino bin", in my adoptive french speaking Canada – maybe I'm a "Hispanic-Canadian?" or a "Hispanic – Quebecer"? I tell them and tell my chidlren to tell them "Who cares these days?"

It annoys me that most successful Hispanic women only want to marry white people. And when this happens, they always hyphenate their name to something like this "Maria Gonzalez-Smith". Why? Because they want to be seem as Hispanic and not white. Hypocrisy?

I am Latina and sucessful and will marry whomever I fall in love with. Would it be awesome if they were from my same culture? Yes. Is it a requirement? No. Would I like to have my last name and my husbands together? Yes, because that is how my mother's name is, my both my grandmother's, and so on. You are stereotyping, maybe you need to think a little harder before commenting and use a little imagination to think of why people do what they do, not just the first idea that comes to your head.

No, for two reasons. First, not all Latinos are of Hispanic descent. Why is that so hard for people to grasp? That is like saying all Americans have to refer to themselves as English or German. Secondly, Latinos cannot unite under racial lines like Asians, Europeans or Africans because they are actual races. Whereas there are Latinos of every single race and ethnicity. Being Latino is not racial or ethnic, its geography. Just like being American. One day people in the US, especially self-described Latinos, will learn to accept that instead of trying to fit us into an impossible box.

This ethnic separation based on pride of our ancestors separates Americans from each other. Keep your pride and traditions within your family–this is a wonderful thing–but don't shove them down the throats of the rest of the American population. Respect others' rights to act accordingly. This country is suffering from a lack of civility and respect.

Hispanic, Latinos, there is little difference in the fact that they come here, speak a foriegn language to each other, screw up our culture and then want a hand-out. Corruption is in their blood – just take a look at Miami. We used to live there and now, if you don't speak Spanish you are an outside. Any wonder we would like to send them ALL back?

The same was once said of Midwestern cities and the German language. Nothing about today is unique. Nothing that you or any of us is experiencing is unique. It has all been done by immigrants. One day another group will come and then the cycle will start again. Life and history are a never ending cycle.

Daniel, I'm not sure I agree. If "not all Latinos are of Spanish descent", then what common thread is left to 'bind' them together under the Hispanic umbrella? Certainly just speaking Spanish can't be enough reason to create a separate ethnic group.

That's my very point William. Strangely there are some who state that living/being from Latin America and speaking Spanish makes one Hispanic regardless of ethnicity, which to me is insane. It is similar to how many continue to refer to Native Americans as Indians despite knowing they are not from India and continue referring to the Roma as Gypsies despite knowing they are not from Egypt. So odd.

I agree hamsta. While it may "unite" some, it will alienate everyone else.
Why can we not all be "Americans". For crying out loud. Why do you think you are better than me just because your ancestors came from "Africa-Americans", Jewish-Americans, Asian-Americans, etc. etc.
Even the so called "Native-Americans" are NOT. They are simply descendants of the FIRST immigrants.

so, whatever color, where ever your grand parents came from, just be content with being an AMERICAN.

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